A smart bet on PetSmart

$8.7 billion

The weekend saw the “biggest private equity deal of 2014“: PetSmart sold itself for $8.7 billion to BC Partners, an investment firm based in London. 

6 percent

Management consultancy Bain & Company predicts the luxury market in the U.S. will have grown 6 percent in 2014. That’s higher than the 5 percent growth in the global luxury market for 2014, and much higher than growth in mainstream U.S. retail.

18,210

The number of followers conservative blogger Charles C. Johnson had as of early Monday morning. Johnson has gained a lot of notoriety recently by proclaiming President Barack Obama is dead, publishing the addresses of two journalists and doxing the woman at the center of the rape scandal at the University of Virginia. David Carr spoke to Johnson for his column this week.

40

That’s how many menu items McDonald’s has added in the past seven years. In response to lagging sales, the brand will begin to refine its menu by cutting eight items. But which will go first? Quartz has some suggestions.